Zoho Books vs FreeAgent vs Invoice Ninja

Compared on	Zoho Books Free plan · from $15/mo VisitRemove	FreeAgent Free plan · from £8.33/mo VisitRemove	Invoice Ninja Free plan · from $11.67/mo VisitRemove
What it is	Accounting with a free plan under $50K revenue, six US plans priced per organization and the Zia AI assistant	UK accounting for sole traders, companies and landlords, free with a NatWest Group business account	Source-available invoicing, payments, expenses and time tracking, hosted from free or self-hosted
Free plan	For businesses with financial-year revenue under $50K: 1 user plus 1 accountant, up to 1,000 invoices and 1,000 expenses a year, 50 receipt autoscans a month, 5 scheduled reports, email support. Bank feeds are not included; document autoscans are the only add-on allowed.	Free for as long as you hold a NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland or Ulster Bank business current account, or a Mettle account with at least one transaction a month (Mettle is not listed for partnerships). Optional add-ons may be chargeable.	Up to 5 clients with unlimited invoicing, 11 invoice templates, online payments, recurring invoices and auto-billing, expenses, projects and time tracking, client portal; Invoice Ninja branding stays on
Cheapest paid plan	$15/mo billed annually (Standard)Zoho Books pricing	£8.33/mo billed annually (Landlord (unincorporated))FreeAgent pricing	$11.67/mo billed annually (Ninja Pro)Invoice Ninja pricing
What it covers	Per organization; 3 users, up to 5,000 invoices and 5,000 bills/expenses a year, 200 receipt autoscans a month. Extra users $3/user/month ($2.50 billed yearly). Prices exclude local taxes.	For UK unincorporated landlords; excludes 20% VAT; £100 billed yearly. The Sole trader plan is £19/month (£190/year). Promotion: 50% off for the first 6 months on monthly billing, or the first year on annual billing.	Unlimited clients and invoices, no Invoice Ninja branding; $140 billed yearly. 30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans.
Free trial	14-day free trial	30-day free trial, no credit card required	None stated
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android, Windows, API	Web, iOS, Android, API	Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux, API
Integrations (vendor's figure)	Not stated	Integration partnerships including Dext, Engager.app, Bright and Syft	Dozens of payment gateways, plus hundreds of apps via Zapier, Make and Pabbly
Open source	No	No	Yes, self-hostable
Good for	Micro businesses under $50K revenue that want free double-entry accounting Product businesses that need inventory and purchase orders inside the accounting tool Teams that want custom workflows, approvals and custom modules	UK sole traders preparing for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Limited company directors who file Corporation Tax and run payroll themselves NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle customers who want free accounting	Freelancers with a handful of clients who want free invoicing Businesses that want to host their invoicing data themselves European businesses that need PEPPOL e-invoicing
Watch out for	The Free plan applies only while annual revenue stays under $50K, with 1 user and no bank feeds Annual invoice and bill caps on every plan, from 5,000 on Standard to 100,000 on Elite and Ultimate Multi-currency, projects and inventory need Professional ($50/mo); budgets and cash flow forecasting need Premium	Built for UK businesses: plans cover HMRC filings and prices are in GBP excluding VAT Smart Capture covers 10 receipts and bills a month unless you pay £5 a month Accounts set up on the cash basis do not include stock or payroll features	The hosted Free plan is limited to 5 clients and keeps Invoice Ninja branding Bank sync, team users and permissions need Enterprise Its pages do not describe payroll, tax filing or AI features
Made by	Zoho Corporation Pvt. Ltd.	FreeAgent Central Limited	Invoice Ninja LLC

Entry prices are the cheapest paid plan, as each vendor publishes it; “What it covers” says what that price is per (a user, a channel, a brand, a number of contacts). The sources are listed on each tool's page.

Every tool in accounting and invoicing software is on its category page, with the written head-to-heads on Compare.